


The Sea

by The_Anglophile



Series: Ziggy and Sphinx [2]
Category: David Bowie (Musician)
Genre: AU, Bowie/Bowie slash!, Other, Symbolism, weird au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-18
Updated: 2013-03-18
Packaged: 2017-12-05 18:34:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,150
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/726511
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Anglophile/pseuds/The_Anglophile
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A short, dark vignette from a strange alternate reality.</p><p>Sphinx and Ziggy talk a walk on the cliffs, visiting the things that were once alive, but now are only a part of their memories.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Sea

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I am in no way affiliated with David Bowie, and all likenesses and real names are employed in a strictly fictional context.
> 
> A/N: One of my older fic, from 2006. The sphinx character is based on [this series of photos.](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lrgd4vIR2Y1qimhp1o1_500.jpg)
> 
> Inspired by _The Bewlay Brothers_ and _Jump They Say_.

Black clouds loomed in the distance as Ziggy and the sphinx exited through the grand wooden doors into the front garden. Dusk was approaching, creeping slowly closer through the cool, windy atmosphere along the high cliffs where the cavernous, empty house sat. The world seemed faded and almost colourless, as though the ocean breeze had washed the colours out of the land and swept them out to sea to die with the sun. A storm was brewing, but it was far enough away yet that the two residents of the house could still take an evening walk.

The grounds surrounding the building were a carefully planned maze of worn stone walkways, bordered by low hedges and flowering plants of all kinds. There were only one or two trees on the far inland edge of the garden, so the endless ocean and miles of rocky coast were clearly visible no matter which direction one turned.

Ziggy looked up at the open sky and felt the familiar sense of nakedness he always got when walking on the coast. He pulled the silvery silk of his kimono closer around him and looked down at the sphinx where it padded quietly along next to him. It always seemed so at home in the outdoors; at least much more so than Ziggy ever felt. It couldn't stand thunderstorms, though, so the two of them would probably have to retire to the house earlier than usual, if the clouds in the distance were any indication of the coming weather.

Ziggy rested his hand on the sphinx's sleek feline shoulders and they walked silently together into the garden maze. The sphinx chose their path today, Ziggy following its turns and occasional stops. Sometimes it would pause to admire a particularly beautiful plant, other times for no apparent reason. Ziggy didn’t protest.

They soon came to a fork in the path, the right branch leading to a small circular courtyard with a dried up stone fountain in its centre, and the left leading out to the edge of the sheer cliffs. The sphinx paused at the junction, took a deep breath of the air blowing in from the sea and said after some thought, "Let's go the otherrr way today." It looked up imploringly at Ziggy as it spoke, its fair hair blowing in wisps across its face.

He gazed thoughtfully at the sphinx for a moment. "Alright." he agreed. They hadn't been that way in a long time. The sphinx turned and began to briskly trot down the left-hand path. Ziggy followed in its footsteps.

The cracked stone of the path eventually gave way to sparse, dry grass and soil, and the hedges ended with the path. The two ventured out of the garden and across the chalky ground to the lip of the great cliff with its abrupt drop to the grey sea below. When Ziggy caught up with the sphinx he found it sitting solemnly at the edge, staring down in the direction of the jagged boulders that littered the cliff’s foot. He stood quietly next to the feline and followed its gaze.

On one of the battered rocks far beneath them lay the bleached skeleton of a lion, picked clean by the sea-faring birds that nested in the cliffs. The back and skull were broken, and the bones looked pitifully small and fragile stranded on the huge rocks. The surf clawed hungrily at the boulders, trying to drag the bones down to the depths of the sea, but they were safely out of reach.

Ziggy glanced discreetly at the sphinx and felt a pang of sadness when he saw its expression. The creature’s beautiful face was awash with sorrow, tears trickling from its yellow eyes as it looked down at the distant broken form.

“I loved him,” it said, barely loud enough to be heard over the wind and crashing sea.

Ziggy knelt down next to the sphinx and put his arm around it, softly stroking the golden fur on its back. It sighed heavily and continued to stare out to sea as the occasional tear rolled down its face.

When the tears had ceased, Ziggy spoke. “He wasn’t like you,” he said, glancing at his companion.

“No... but he was still my brrotherrr,” the sphinx replied, meeting his gaze. Ziggy missed the lion too, but he didn’t think about him as much as the sphinx did. He wondered what had made the lion jump. He, too, had felt the call of the sea, but never so strongly.

Ziggy watched as the sphinx’s face slowly shed some of its sorrow and the creature’s eyes filled with another emotion. It could change moods very abruptly, as Ziggy had discovered. Its pupils widened as it looked at him and it let out a plaintive mew, an uncharacteristic sound that caught him off guard. It then put a paw on his shoulder and began to rub its face against his, nuzzling his neck and hair and purring into his ear.

Before he realised what it was doing, it had placed a strong paw against his chest and pushed him roughly backwards into the dirt, at which point it lay down on top of him and began tenderly licking the portion of his chest that wasn’t covered by the kimono.

He attempted to sit up, but the sphinx wasn’t budging. “Not here,” he said to it, “It’s too cold.”

“Please?” it begged, “I can keep you warrrrm...” It still looked a bit sad, but its voice was full of longing. Ziggy always had a hard time denying the sphinx what it wanted, and almost said yes, but just as he was about to speak, thunder rumbled in the distance. The wind was picking up too, whipping the sea into whitecaps.

He shook his head. “It’s going to storm; you know how much you hate storms. We should go inside.”

The sphinx looked nervously out over the sea at the billowing thunderheads and then back at Ziggy, uncertain.

“We can do whatever you like,” he said coaxingly, “Let’s go inside.”

The feline finally assented and lifted itself off of him. He got to his feet, brushed the dirt from his clothing and started quickly along the perimeter of the cliff, intent on getting indoors before the rain began. The sphinx paused one more time to gaze down at the shining white bones on the rocks before hurrying to catch up to Ziggy.

 

Later that night, as the sphinx’s hot body pushed and rubbed against him in the darkness, Ziggy looked at the blackness outside his window, split sporadically by blue bolts of lightning, and wondered if _this_ was the storm that would finally wash the bones of the lion away into the sea.

The sphinx’s insistent affection continued unabated as he gazed out the window, and he gradually allowed himself to relax, forgetting about the lion altogether.

 

 

The End


End file.
